Toy vehicle



w'. T. GREEN.

TOY VEHICLE.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 6, 1920.

1,389,502. P n ed Aug- 30, 1921.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WARREN T. GREEN, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR TO THE MEN GEL COMPANY, OF LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

TOY VEHICLE.

Application filed December 6, 1920.

To all w ham it may concern Be it known that I, WARREN T. GREEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at St. Louis and State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Toy Vehicles, of which the following is a specification.

This invention pertains to toy vehicles, and more particularly to means for securing trailer wagons to toy cars. The invention has for its object the production of a simple and cheap device which enables a child to readily couple a wagon to a toy vehicle or vto couple together a plurality of such wagons so as to produce a train attached to the main toy vehicle or to each other. I

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which, H

Figure 1 shows a toy vehicle in sectional elevation with a wagon attached thereto and a second tongue attached to the wagon, the secondwagon being omitted;

Fig. 2 a transverse sectional view taken on the line IIII of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 a vertical sectional view taken 011 the line III-III of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 a perspective view of the wagon tongue with the dowel openings and the spacing member; and

Fig. 5 a similar view showing a modified form of the invention.

The toy vehicle may be of any approved type, that shown comprising a body having a seat. portion 1, a reach 2 and a forward head or end 3 to which latter is swiveled a fork 4:, said fork being connected to a steering element 5 having handles 6 extending therefrom through which it may be manipulated, the fork carrying a wheel 7. At the rear of the body beneath the seat there is attached two downwardly extending brackets or supporting elements .8 and 9. Axle housings or other fixed elements 10 and 11 are secured to and extend between said brackets 8 and 9, such construction being set forth and claimed in my copending application Serial No. 417,157, filed October 15, 1920, and the axle may be placed in either of these housings and is shown in the upper one and denoted by 12, and forms the support for the rear wheels 13 and 14. It is to be understood, however, that this particular construction is not essential to the present the bracke s 8 and 9 two fixed elements or Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 30, 1921. Serial No. 428,529.

bars, as 11 and 12, which cooperate with the tongue of the trailer wagon to hold said tongue in place. The trailer wagon is denoted by 15, and is provided with a tongue 16 pivotally connected to the block or element 17 which is provided beneath the front portion of the wagon and connected to the front cross bar or axle 18 on whichthe front wheels 19 are mounted. The upper forward end of the tongue is preferably beveled as at 20, and a rod or bar 21 is passed therethrough, the rod or bar being of a length slightly less than the distance between the brackets 8 and 9 so that it may pass between them and'yet prevent too great a lateral movement of the tongue with reference thereto when the same is positioned between the brackets. In other words the element 21 acts as a spacer for the tongue. The tongue is also provided with two downwardly extending dowel pins 22 and 23, the pins being located to either side of the bar 21 and spaced apart a distance slightly greater than the widthof the lower cross member or element 11.

hen it is desired to couple up a wagon to a toy vehicle, the tongue is brought to the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3, so that the dowel pin 22 will be free to pass over the cross bar or element 11. It is then moved to the full line position in Fig. 3, and comes to its-final position as shown in F ig. 1. The length of the dowel pin, as shown in full line position in Fig. 3, prevents the. tongue from becoming accidentally disengaged as the upper cross bar or element 10 precludes the tongue from jumping up to such an extent as to free the dowel 22 or 23, as the case may be, and permitting it to slip past the lower cross bar 11.

In Fig. 5 a slight modification is shown wherein instead of employing separate dowel pins, as 22 and 23, a U-shaped metallic plate is employed. The body of the plate, denoted by 24, is secured to the under face of the tongue and the downwardly projecting arms 25 and 26 have the same coupling effect as the pins 22 and 23. Such a coupling is shown at the rear of the wagon 15,

in Fig. 1, wherein it engages the rear axle 27 of the wagon. The tongue is precluded from becoming disengaged from the axle by reason of the fact that the elements or arms 25 and 26 are of a length slightly greater than the distance between the upper surface of the rear axle 27 and the under face of the wagon bottom. This metallic plate construction is to be treated as the equivalent of the dowel pin construction and may be secured in its attached relation to the toy vehicle or to the trailer wagon, as under the construction first described.

As above noted the attaching means may be employed with any form of toy'vehicle so long as there is present a lower element upon which the tongue rests and with which the depending members extending therefrom engage, an upper member which prevents the tongue from jumping out of engagement, and side members, as brackets 8 and9, in the toy vehicle, or axle supporting members as 28 upon the wagon, which cooperate with the cross bar or rod to prevent too great a lateral play of the tongue.

As will be readily appreciated, any number of wagons may be coupled up to each other and to the toy vehicle, and if it is desired merely to make a train of wagons they may be coupled up to each other independently of the toy vehicle, the child using the tongue of the front wagon as the means for drawing the train along, or as the means for steering it while sitting in the front wagon, the tongue at such time being brought to the vertical and the cross 10211321 used as a handle.

What is claimed is 1. In combination with a toy vehicle hav ing two spaced elements extending across the rear portion thereof; a second vehicle; a. tongue connected to said second vehicle; a

pair of spaced fingers extending outwardly from one face of the tongue and adapted to engage one of the spacedelements aforesaid; and a spacer rod extending'laterally from each side of the tongue.

2. In combination with a toy vehicle having two downwardly extending elements secured to the under rear portion thereof; a pair of bar like elements secured to and extending across the space between the first named elements; a second vehicle; a tongue extending therefrom; a cross rod extending laterally from each side of the tongueadj'acent its forward end; and a pair of spaced fingers extending from the tongue, said fingers, being adapted to straddle the lower bar of the pair of bar like elements and being of such length as to preclude accidental disengagement of the tongue from thetoy vehicle. V 3. In combination with a toy Vehicle; a tongue attached thereto; a cross bare'xtending laterally to each side of the tongue adjacent the forward end thereof; and a pair of fingers extending from the tongue at right angles to the cross bar.

4L. Incombination with a toy vehicle; a tongue attached thereto, the upper forward end of the tongue being beveled; a cross bar extending laterally to each side of the tongue adjacent its forward end; and a pair of fingers extending downwardly from the tongue, one to each side of the cross bar.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

WVARREN T. GREEN. 

